Women's Cross Country Outlook and Review

9/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country

By: Dartmouth

2006 Women's Cross Country Review and Preview

2005 Review:
Dartmouth College prides itself on maintaining tradition; the Cross Country teams are no different. A tradition they have kept is one of winning championships, encouraging a spirit of excellence, of developing lasting relationships, and enjoying physical challenges.

The Big Green women emerged on the national cross country scene by placing 12th at the NCAA's in 1988 and 18th in 1989. National caliber runners like Ellen O'Neil, Moira Teevens, Pam Crandall, and Therese Devlin competed in the 1980's and set the stage of national prominence. This national recognition expanded in the 1990's behind the efforts of All-Americans like Maribel Sanchez, Kristin Manwaring, and Jenna Rogers.

Since Dartmouth's first cross country team in 1976, the Big Green has been one of the strongest programs in the Northeast. The women are consistently at the top of the Ivy League and the distance program has produced eleven All Americans. Most recently, Melanie Schorr '06 finished 22nd at the XC NCAA's in 2005 to earn All-American honors. Dartmouth's women won the Heptagonal championship in cross-country in 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997, and advanced to the NCAA championships in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, and. 2001.

In 2003, the Big Green had their best finish (3rd) at the XC Ivy League Championships since 1998, and our best finish (3rd) at the XC NCAA Regional meet. The 2006 squad is a young team, primarily sophomores, and it expects to rebuild this program's great tradition.

2006 Preview:

The women's cross country team returns a core group of young and talented runners. Leading the way will be team captains and Susan Dunklee '08. Both runners earned All-Ivy and All-NCAA Regional honors last fall. With these strong runners up front, and an enthusiastic young group behind them, the Big Green has the potential to turn some heads this season. The team welcomes back high school standouts Caitlin Cunningham and Lauren Moser off the injured reserve list. With these four, the women's XC team should have a strong showing in each race.

Elisa McCarthy, Kristin Ricci, Anna Greskovich, and Aryn Gruneisen are all veterans who should contribute to the top seven. Adding depth to the lineup are freshmen Ali Smrcina, Kat Eidmann, Blair Sullivan, Zaritza Petrova, and Laura Tabor. All of the freshmen could potentially impact the program in a positive way this season.